Category Archives: Narrative

OK, It’s been a long time since we posted, and the post will probably remain inconsistent, but I have a short story I thought would be fun to share. I entered a tournament today, and one of the requirements was that the army have a story. This is what I entered, a short fluffy story about my Carcharodon/Sisters of Battle list.

Inquisitor Legate read the note again. Having no idea who left it, he did not know how reliable it was. But if it was true, he was greatly concerned. The fact that Inquisitor Aedile wanted to send the Minotaurs to investigate the Carcharodon Astartes based off of complaints from other chapters after the Badab war was a serious issue for Legate. He knew that the Carcharodons were loyal to the Imperium, and he knew that an investigation by the Minotaurs would only end in violence. Legate also had to admit that if the Minotaurs and the Carcharodons went to war with each other, the Minotaurs would probably wipe the Carcharodons from existence.

Inquisitor Legate got up from his chair and started pacing the office. His brow creased with concern. He knew the Carcharodons were loyal. OK, they were a little bit on the violent side, but they were loyal to the Emperor. He had the fact to back him up. Legate also knew that if he went up against Inquisitor Aedile, he would lose. He did not have enough support to go against Aedile’s wishes. But maybe he could pull just enough support to alter them.

Yes, alter them. Maybe if it looked like he was willing to have the Carcharodons investigated it would satisfy Aedile‘s allies in the Inquisition. He knew the Minotaurs would go in and attack. Even sending in the Grey Knights made him uncomfortable. Going in himself would be considered a conflict of interest, no other inquisitor would support him on that decision. Not even his allies…

Canoness Cirratu entered the room, leaving her guard outside the door with the two space marines that escorted them. She did not let her disdain at being ordered here show on her face. A few weeks ago she would not have recognized the icon adorning the shoulder pads of the Space Marines. Now she understood that these are Carcharodon Astartes. She walked up to the only marine in the darken room, stopping barley a foot away from him. Looking right into his black eyes, she handed over the documents she was carrying.

The pale marine didn’t say a word as he reached out to grab them. Cirratu felt the need to break the silence. Silence that has been eating at her since she and her squad landed on this ship. “I come with orders from Terra and documents from Lord Tyberos himself. My orders are to observe you and your men and report back with my findings.”

When she was done speaking, the pale space marine stood there in silence for what seems like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes. When he did finally speak, it was with a very quiet voice.

“What did you bring with you?”
“My personal command squad, a squad of my sisters, a Rhino, my personal command tank, and supplies for both you and me. These supplies include some new armour sent directly from Mars.”
“What do you need from us?”
“Billets, a place to train, and I need access to you and you men.”
“Done”

And with that, she knew this meeting was over. She spun on her heels and walked out of the office. As soon as she steeped through the marine on her left spoke.

“Canoness Cirratu, Captain Isurus told me to show you around the ship. We will pick up the rest of your troops and I will show you your billets, our training facilities, and where you can feast. Please follow me.”

While she walked next to these towering behemoths, she thought about how quickly Captain Isurus granted her access. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad assignment. She did begin to wonder why she was observing this chapter for the Inquisition. Such a small squad wouldn’t stop them if they fell to chaos, but even being sent showed that someone on Terra didn’t trust them. She would have her troops keep their eyes on these Space Marines…

After Canoness Cirratu left is office, he turned to the marine that was hiding in the shadows.

“She didn’t notice you.”
“Not that I can tell.”
“What is your opinion?”
“She comes with orders from Terra and from Lord Tyberos.”
“And?”
“And I still don’t trust her.”
“Have the men keep a watchful eye on her and her team. They may just be here to observe, but Lord Tyberos left a hidden message to keep our eyes out as well. We are not the only ones that are feeling uneasy with these Adepta Soroitas.”

Howdy everyone, Severus here. I had the chance to play a little bit of a narrative game this past weekend. A few of the locals at Moxie Games and I got together and play a 1v1v1v1 game using the 40k Carnage Mission rules. It was meant to be fun, and it was a blast! We had orks, dark angels, chaos daemons, and white scars (dressed as Minotaurs…) represented on the field. Since Carnage revolves around capturing a central objective, we decided to use a model to represent a fallen dark angels for the central objective. In order to properly tell this narrative, I have decided to bring out Shamus. If you want to see his last exploits, check it out here.

Shamus McCraken had seen a lot in the last 2 years. He made it off Verdan III, but sadly his family did not. Without anything holding him there, Shamus had signed up to join the 23rd Verdan Regiment of the Imperial Guard. Since then he had seen a few wars and learned a lot about the war machine that is the Imperium. He couldn’t say he liked it, but it kept him going. And that was all he needed right now.

Shamus was currently deployed to Orvius IV, one of several planets in the system under siege by a mighty ork invasion. Imperial broadcasts had said that a few infamous orks had been sited, including Ghazzkull Thraka. Supposedly, the Terror of Armageddon was here with a few of his most trusted lieutenants, and the Dark Angels were here to put an end the beast. Shamus had learned to take Imperial propaganda with a grain of salt.

The first time Shamus had seen these Space Marines, he had been awed by their size and strength. The first time he saw one tear an ork limb from limb, he became a little wary of these warriors of the Emperor. Word amongst the men was that the Dark Angels had been asking around camp for a dark haired man with a scar over his left eye. The description sort of fit Shamus’ Sergeant, but he figured it was best to keep his mouth shut.

When Serg caught wind of these rumors, he seemed unsettled. Shamus didn’t really care, that is until a group of Dark Angels bikes opened fire on his squad during a routine patrol. For the last two nights the squad had been running and hiding, falling back against an ever increasing number of Dark Angels. Serg had some trick up his sleeve. Shamus would have stopped to ask how he seemed to know the Dark Angels tactics, but as long as Serg kept him alive, he didn’t much care.

On the dawn of the 3rd day, it was down to just Serg and Shamus. He had lead them to an burned out city, a previous victim of the rampaging orks. In the outskirts, was an old rock formation. Serg seemed to think it had some significant, and quickly scaled it. Shamus heard him chanting in a language foreign to Shamus. The words felt harsh and unnerving to Shamus. Rather than dwell on it, Shamus took the chance to try to catch some rest in the shade of the rock formation. Serg seemed to have slipped the Dark Angels for now.

The distant roar of engines and the crackle of lighting woke Shamus. He must have dozed off, damn foolish of him. He quickly took stock of the situation. To the south east of him, several Dark Angel squads had formed up in a few of the ruined building and had heavy weapons trained on their position. To the north west, bronze clad space marines with several ornate dreadnoughts had broken through the cover of the city.

These newcomers proclaimed themselves the Minotaurs and began to broadcast a message on all frequencies. They demanded that the Dark Angels lay down their weapons by order of the High Lords of Terra. Serg found this particularly fun; Shamus couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. All he knew is that he did not want to be stuck between two angry forces of the Emperor’s finest. To make the situation worse, Shamus could make out a few of the cobbled together battlewagons favored by the ork elite making a noisy entrance from the south west.

Serg just kept laughing. Shamus figured that the old vet had finally lost it. As Serg’s laugh grew in strength, a dark storm cloud began to form to the north east. The maelstrom grew in strength and a size. Lightning forked down from the clouds and struck the earth. As the afterimages faded from Shamus’ eyes, he was greeted with an unearthly sight. Unnatural creatures had appeared in the ruins near the storm. Many smaller creatures, some with blood red skin and others with putrid green hues. Serg called to these creatures as if they were allies come to his aid.

Shamus had enough of the fool’s raving at this point. With Serg’s attention focused on the daemons, Shamus hoisted his lasgun and started towards his Sergeant. He brought the butt of the gun down firmly into the back of Serg’s skull, laying him out cold. He left the motionless body on the damned rock pile. Shamus didn’t much care if Serg lived or died at this point. He was going to try to make it through this alive and make it back to his regiment.

With Serg down, the Daemons roared in unison and began tearing across the battlefield in all directions. A missive red winged beast took to the air and slammed into the Dark Angels lines. The beast smashed a rhino and scattered the squad from its interior. The Dark Angels opened fire on the Daemons, their leader bravely charging in against the beast under the cover of his men’s fire. A stoic Chaplain engaged the winged beast in an attempt to distract it while the rest of the men, under guidance of the Commander, attempted to bring the beast down. Its otherworldly flesh resisted all but the most determined of their efforts.

The ork battlewagons began to drive towards the rock pile, intent on catching the Dark Angels or the Daemons. Shamus caught a glimpse of the greenskins riding in the transports, and recognized the biggest ork as Ghazzkull. As the battlewagons cleared one of the larger standing buildings, the Minotaur’s caught site of them. The ornate walkers all sported multiple rotary cannons which opened fire in a deafening blast, turning two of the battlewagons into smoking scrap. Ghazzkull tore his way out of the wreckage with an angry bellow and the mob of boyz gathered around him. The orks were mad now, and Shamus new better than to get in their way now. Shamus darted for some ruins south of the rocks.

The daemons grew closer to the unconscious form of Serg. They had also spotted the Minotaurs after their explosive display of firepower, and a few howling red beast with riders broke off to engage them. These beast were quickly brought down by the guns of the Minotaur’s. More daemons piled in around the great winged beast, eager to get to grips with the Dark Angels. The Chaplain tried to keep the focus of the beast, but with a mighty swing of the beast’s ax, the black armored marine was reduced to a red stain. The great beast let loose a deep laugh and began to swing at the remaining troops. The commander bravely stepped forward to intercept the swings of the might ax, and managed to save his men.

While the leaders of the Dark Angels were tied up with the great winged beast, the rest of the Dark Angel forces focused on the Daemons swarming in front of them. Off to the north east, another bright flash of light was followed by a load crack. Shamus grabbed his magnoculars and looked to see what new horror had come forth. To his surprise, he say Dark Angels in thick bone colored armor begin to open fire on the rear ranks of the flickering daemons. The rest of the Dark Angels opened up on the grotesquely mutated flies that had begun to advance on their lines. The bulbous winged bugs withered under the hail of fire and began to fall back.

Screaming down near his position, Shamus saw over half a dozen Dark Angels jump from a low flying aircraft. They seemed to be equipped with flight packs used to slow their assent. They still landed with a tremendous crash. As the dust settled, Shamus saw the remaining ork battlewagon careen to a halt near these new arrivals. The loud guttural laughs of the orks within could barely be heard over the cacophony of their guns opening fire. In a blaze of bullets, rockets, and energy blasts, the Dark Angel marines that had just landed were gunned down.

Shamus looked to the west and saw a sight of pure fury. The Great Warboss, Ghazzkull, stood defiantly in front of his ruined transport. He let out a deep bellow that began to be taken up by all the orks. Soon the howling hoard of boys rushed towards the Minotaurs, scrambling over the rocks that Shamus had taken shelter at just moments ago.

The Minotaur Commander cried out the order to open fire. Two of the dreadnoughts and a trio of centurions let loose into the green menace. The bullets bounced off Ghazzkull, and only seemed to spur on his rage. His boys that ran behind him were not so lucky. Some shots missed Ghazzkull, but found their targets in them. Other shots that glanced off his armor occasionally found a new target in a nearby boy.

The remaining contemptor had been prepared to open fire on the wall of greenskins, but its attention was drawn by an arcing bolt of lightning. As its view screens cleared, a screaming horde of red skin daemons shimmered into existence. It let loose with its twin rotary cannons and top mounted missile launchers. Scattered smoldering flesh surrounded the contemptor, but one lone daemon remained. The entombed pilot would have grinned as he smashed the remaining daemon under his foot, had he the ability anymore.

Shamus tried to make a break to the south. There wasn’t any cover near him, and the ork battlewagon was to close enough to make a safe go of it. Cursing, Shamus checked the charges on his lasgun and hunkered down, hopeful he would continue to go unnoticed. The unearthly bellows of the winged beast of to the east made him peak out from cover.

The great winged daemon held the broken form of the Dark Angels Commander in its oversized hand. The remaining Dark angels were being hacked apart by the smaller red skinned daemons. North, the bone collared terminators found the combined number of three packs of smaller daemons converge on them. The stubborn fools tried to hold their ground. Sensing the flow of combat going against, they opened up with their arm mounted flamer. Using this type of weapon in close quarters was risky, but worth it. Half a dozen creatures went down in a blaze.

Shamus looked back to the west just in time to see the wave of ork bodies crash into the Minotaur’s Commander and his centurions. The boys began to swarm over the cumbersome centurions. Ghazzkull tried to vent his anger on the commander that had robbed him of his battlewagon. A shimmering energy field absorbed the worst of the damage. The Commander was a brave fool. Shamus knew that force field would only hold for so long.

The great winged daemon rounded the corner and began to rampage around the fire base of Dark Angels. Some of their braver marines charged in to try to fell the beast that had taken down their brave leaders. The slashed and stabbed at the beast, but failed to strike a lethal blow. A great sweep if it’s ax felled nearly half a dozen of them. Sensing the futility of their actions, they broke from the field and fled.

In the midst of the chaos, the last fly daemon began to head towards the downed form of Shamus’ former sergeant. A group of Dark angels with heavy weapons took aim and unleashed a fusillade into the beast. It shimmered and convulsed under the punishment. The creature kept going, desperate to reach the man on the rock formation. Before it coud reach it target, another volley of fire ripped from the Dark Angels position. This time, the creature went down for good.

The orks with the large caliber weapons saw their opportunity for glory. And Shamus never knew an ork that shied away from glory. They let fire with their mishmash of weapons. Their eclectic mix of projectiles stuck home against the great wing beast. The smoking flesh seemed to collapse in on itself, and the beast winked out of reality with an angry bellow. The orks glory was short lived.

Bright beams of light struck out from the north west. A landradier rumbled forth from the Minotaur’s lines, opening fire on the lone battlewagon. The vehicle swerved to avoid fire, but ran right into the field of fires setup by the Minotaur’s contemptors. It was an excellently organized trap. The combined fire of the rotary cannons and missiles detonated the wagon in a great fire ball.

Ghazzkull couldn’t care less for the fate of the flashgitz. He continued to hammer blows onto the Minotaur commander. The centurions were dragged down in a wave of boyz. Bereft of all support, the brave commander was distracted for just long enough. The shield flicker and Ghazzkull brought his massive claw down around the space marines head. The hideous sound it made was drown out by the warlord’s bellows. He was bleeding from many deep wounds, but the ork didn’t seem to notice them.

Ghazzkull ordered his mob forward. Shamus saw the fatal mistake before the enraged warboss did. The 3 contemptuous swiveled on their waists and took aim. In a deafening fusillade, the dreadnoughts began to destroy the horde. Bloodied and limping, the warlord shambled forward and managed to come to grips with one of the might walkers. With one mighty blow, the great ork smashed the sarcophagi of the great machine, rendering it useless.

The remaining 2 contemptor focused all fire on the mob, killing all but the warlord. Ghazzkull turned to face the other walkers, but was never destined to reach him. Another blinding blast of light from the ancient landraider felled the great ork with a smoldering hole through his chest. A beleaguered cheer went up from the Minotaur’s lines.

The contemptors then turned their attention to the goal of this mission. They mounted the rock formation and began to take aim at the remaining Dark Angels. They were caught off guard by motion from the wreckage in front of Shamus. The flashgitz had survived the blast. After the devastation the orks had wrought on their brethren, the contemptors opened fire on the flashgitz survivors. The beast didn’t stand a chance. Shamus would have felt pity, but he had long learned to leave that weakness behind him.

Realizing that they prey was beyond their grasp, the Dark Angels began to fall back with their wounded. The remaining Minotaurs converged on the rock formation. Shamus could see the unconscious form of his former Sergeant being dragged from the field. The remaining daemons also began to flicker out of existence.

Shamus though on his options. He could try to slip away in the confusion. He didn’t know what forces were behind him. With the hole left in the imperial lines, it could be crawling with orks. Shamus had no plans on taking on the waagh all by himself. Seeing as the Minotaurs hadn’t actually fired on him yet, he decided to risk it.

Clambering out of the ruined building, Shamus slowly walked towards the rock formation. The contemptors trained their guns on him as he came into view. A marine strolled down from the hill. His gaze fixed on Shamus, he spoke. “You have ten seconds to explain your actions soldier, or in the name of the High Lords of Terra, I will gun you down myself.”

Shamus thought for a quick second. “Pretty sure Serg there isn’t who he say he is. Beats me why those Dark Angels wanted him.” Slapping a new energy cell in to his lasgun, Shamus growled “I don’t take kindly to those that try to kill me though. So if you boys are going after them, count me in”

Every now and then, Severus and I feel the need to cause mass death and destruction. We challenge each other to a battle of the swarms. He puts up his Orks up against my Tyranids. This past weekend was another one of those long battles. He brought tons of orks including 6 HQs and a lot of boys (and only one tank). I brought 188 models including the Swarmlord, a Hive Tyrant, Tyrant Guard, 9 warriors, 9 Raveners, a Pyrovore, 2 Biovores, 60 Termaguants, 40 Genestealers, 30 Gargoyles (who didn’t last long) and 30 Hormaguants.

Knowing this was going to be a fun blood bath, I decided to deploy everything onto the table. I didn’t even infiltrate the Genestealers. Gargoyles were on the left flank with the Warriors. Hormaguants, Biovores, Raveners, and the Hive Tyrant were on the right flank. Genestealers, Hormaguants, and the Swarmlord were the center of my army. Oh, and the Pyrovore was there with them in his first appearance.

I had no goal except to charge in and kill or be killed. Well, it turns out that it is fairly easy to be killed. Gargoyles killed a Deffkopta, and so did the Raveners, but from that point on, it was just a slow death.

The following are some photos of the action. You can just see the models being slowly pulled off the board.

Severus deployed his Orks in a similar way. Just get them on the board. He scouted his Deffkopta forward, and braced for the on coming tide.

My view of what I would be facing.

And as you can see, some of these were members of the grey tide.

Some genestealers, preparing for the run forward.

What do you get when on genestealer eats too many Orks? A greenstealer.

Time to skitter forward.

Filling up the right flank was a Hive Tyrant, making sure that none of the Raveners decided to fall to their instincts.

Not much later in the game, a close combat. One ravener and a few Hormaguants just couldn’t stand up to the clubbing that they received.

The Pyrovore, bravely moving forward. In this game, I have to admit that he did pretty good. Wasn’t an all-star, but he did take out a few models. And Pyrovores are considered terrible…

Ork boys, having defeated the gargoyles, are seining in to slaughter some Warriors. I wish I could say it went well, but it really didn’t. Two units charged those warriors, and they didn’t last a turn of close combat.

The Broodlord and his crew slowly moving up the edge. Someone had to try and save the Swarmlord.

This was one of the most entertaining points in the game. Two almost full units of boys decided to charge the Swarmlord. So they went around the Pyrovore. The wanted the Swarmlord.

And now it started becoming a quagmire. Two units of boys charging in, and the Pyrovore with nothing to do. Shame I didn’t have “Supporting Fire”.

This is going to hurt.

And the Orks are thinned out… but so are the Gaunts and the Genestealers.

And finally the Flash Gits show up for some close combat. From here, it just went down hill. Severus slowly picked off the Genestealers, the Guants, and the Guard. In turn 6, the Swarmlord had one wound left. Then I dumped all of my psychic dice into Catalyst, knowing I would need Feel No Pain. And I periled. The Swarmlord took himself out of the game, causing me to be tabled.

Howdy everyone, Severus here. Last week, Shorereaper and I did a little one off narrative battle report. As usual, the comments from the Overlords made the narrative spin off in a totally random direction. I decided to expand on that narrative. I now introduce you men to Shamus, who will hopefully turn into a re-occurring character in our narratives.

Shamus was a fifth generation farmer sent to the eastern fringe agriworld of Verdan III. His family had sown there seeds throughout the galaxy, from his uncle on Balaam, his grandfather on Deneriar, to his father on Gath. He got up early that morning to tend to his crops and feed the livestock. As he was preparing to head back to the house to have breakfast with his family, he noticed a glimmer or green on the horizon.

Soon, massively armored suits of a strange alien race were moving into his families homestead. He thought them attackers at first. That was until he saw what was chasing them. Flashed of bright blue light erupted from the xenos guns into the masses of charging creatures. The calm of the early morning was broken by the chaos of battle.

He didn’t understand the strange language of the armored green xenos, but he understood there intent. His homestead was where they would make their last stand. Shamus never did like xenos, but in this case he was glad to make an exception.

Shamus hurried inside. He shouted to Bridgette, his wife, to get everyone into the vehicles and head for Macone. It was the nearest large city, and home to a garrison of planetary defense forces. It was the safest place Shamus could think to send them.

That dealt with; Shames went to the chest in his bedroom. He unlocked it. Inside was the shotgun his father had kept from his time in the Adeptus Arbites. He had never thought he would need to use it, but was glad he had listen to his fathers lessons on the weapon now.

Shamus calmly walked back out of the house and to the edge of the homestead. Shots rang out from all around him. He saw a multiarmed red creature running through a field of grain towards him. As the creature lept free of the grass, Shams raised and fired the weapon, taking the creature head off in mid jump.

Another creatured broke out of the field but hesitated in surprise to see Shamus. Shamus racked the slide on the old shotgun, chambering a new round. Looking the creature in the eye, Shamus growled “Get off my god damned lawn!”

Shamus began to unload round after round into the charging creatures. Behind them he noticed a shimmer in the air followed by burst of blue fire. The creatures were being cut down from behind by an unseen foe. The lead creature was enraged by the attack from the rear and turned to face it. Good thought Shamus, let the damned thing chase after shadows.

Shamus returned to the house to make sure his family had gotten clear of the battle. There was no sign of the family or the vehicles; he had to assume they were gone. The strange green armored xenos were making a good showing for themselves. They were effecting a fighting retreat, and making the bug like creatures pay for every step they took. Shamus grabbed a handfull of ammo and went out the back of the house.

Just as it looked like the bug creatures where about to be broken, a massive behemoth emerged from the trees. Easily twice the size of his harvester units, the massive creature began to charge through the fields at the homestead. The xenos opened fire with everything they had. The homestead errupted with the sounds of explosions and bright blue light as a large heavily armored suit target the creature. The resulting explosion briefly blinded Shamus.

Blinking to get his vision back, Shamus struggled to see across the field. Surely no creature could have survived such punishment. As his vision cleared, he was meet with shock. Onward the creature limped, several broken areas of armor leaking a black blood. Guess these xenos guns weren’t all they were cracked up to be. Shamus had a trick up his sleeve.

Leaving the green armored xenos to there fate, Shamus ran for the tool shed. Being on an agri world means you need to learn to take care of your own. Stock piled in the back of the shed were several large drums of promethium, used to run the farm equipment. He loaded them onto a powered hand cart.

Shamus stuck his head out the door to check on the battle. The large bugs we tearing one of the large armored suits to pieces, greedily trying to reach the pilot. The xenos were continue to fall back and direct there fire at the big bugs. Fools, thought Shamus. He could see the leader bug moving up there flank around the house. The four armed beast looked more than capable at dispatching the lot of the xenos.

Shamus opened the door to the shed. He activated the motor on the hand cart and pointed it towards the house. The cart began to roll forward, bouncing along the ground through the chaos of battle. No one seemed to notice the little cart. The cart rolled up and hit the house, spinning its wheels as it stuck in place.

The xenos finally dropped the big bugs with there constant fire, but Shamus knew the leader bug was moving in for the kill. Shamus shouted at the xenos “If yall want to live through this I suggest you get away from my god damned house!” The xenos turned to look in the direction that Shamus was pointing, just in time to see the lead bug break from cover.

It was incredibly fast. The xenos were to slow to react, battle weary like they were. Not Shamus though. He raised the gun and racked the slide, loading an incendiary round they used for burning crops. He aimed at the hand cart and pulled the trigger. The cart and the barrels on it went up in a massive explosion that knocked Shamus of his feet.

Shamus pulled himself to his feet. Flaming debris was scattered over his whole homestead. He looked around for the lead bug. The beast still lived, pulling itself from the fire. Most of its legs were burned off as well as a few of its arms. Shamus picked up the shotgun and started slowly walking towards the beast. The green armored xenos began to pick themselves up and start a full retreat. Cowards.

Striding up to the beast, Shamus looked it in the eye. It tried to lift its one remaining sword arm, but Shamus pinned it to the ground with his boot. He racked the action of the shotgun. Aiming at the creatures head, Shamus laughed. “And people say that a farmers life is boring.” Pulling the trigger, Shamus turned the creatures head into a pile of black ichor.

Looking around at the fire and devastation of his farm, Shamus sigh. Guess it was time to go see what became of his family.

And there you have it. Part one of the Epic Saga of Shamus. Let me know what you guys think. I am not much of a creative writer, but these seemed like a fun project to try. Until next time, this is Severus saying have a good one and take it easy.